A new climate action movement in Gwynedd is calling on people to register their interest to join a Community Assembly on the Climate.

GwyrddNi is a climate action movement established by six local social enterprises and funded by The National Lottery. It plans to host a series of Community Assemblies in partnership with each local social enterprise in the following areas over the next year: Pen Llŷn with Ynni Llŷn, Bro Ffestiniog with Cwmni Bro, Dyffryn Nantlle with Yr Orsaf, Dyffryn Ogwen with Partneriaeth Ogwen and Dyffryn Peris with Cyd Ynni.

“I’m really excited to be part of GwyrddNi,” says 26-year-old Fflur Harman from Dyffryn Nantlle who works as a Creative Officer with GISDA and has already registered to join Dyffryn Nantlle’s Community Assembly.

“I’ve lived away for the past eight years and now that I’m back I feel I can actually do something, I’m part of the community.”

Out of all who express an interest to join their local assembly, 50 successful applicants will be selected to attend to represent the wider community, where they will share, learn, listen, discuss and together prepare a Climate Action Plan. Following this process GwyrddNi, along with the local project partner in each area, and any members of the community who wish to take part will deliver the Climate Action Plan together.

Co-founder and one of five project partners, Ceri Cunnington at Cwmni Bro in Blaenau Ffestiniog explains that this could be about so much more than just climate action:

“For us at Cwmni Bro, GwyrddNi is about much more than climate action. It’s an opportunity for us to come together to share ideas and work together to create the sustainable future we want for our community.

“It’s an opportunity to break away from traditional silos and to look at our area in its entirety because these themes are so cross-cutting; from the trees that we plant, to the air that we breathe, from the food that we eat to the next generation that we’re bringing up.

“What kind of community do we want them to inherit? Come along to talk and share ideas and smash some prejudice hopefully!”

Leading on the work in Bro Ffestiniog is Nina Bentley, who lives in Blaenau.

“This is about community voice and community strength; GwyrddNi is here to facilitate but it’s the people in each area who will decide together what they would like to see happen locally to tackle climate change, and to ensure a healthy, vibrant, positive future for the next generations.”

Similar assemblies have been held across Britain and the world. Wales’ first was the Blaenau Gwent Climate Assembly which took place in March last year. The people of Kendal got together during the pandemic and held the world’s first fully digital assembly on the climate, and Decitizenship in Brazil looked at access to culture.

For more information and to sign up to register your interest to join one of the assemblies go to GwyrddNi’s website: www.gwyrddni.cymru. Applications close on Monday 4 April.